The Latest

Enter the Blagosphere

Since it was revealed that Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich tried to sell Pres. Barack Obama's former Senate seat, there has been an ongoing debate over which state is more corrupt, Louisiana or Illinois (in Slate, Newsweek, Washington Times, Corporate Crime Reporter). Simply put, Illinois has more elected officials in jail, but it also has a much larger population. If Mardi Gras was any indication, New Orleanians clearly understood the governor's approach to public resources and were eager to enjoy his moment of infamy. Floats throughout Carnival paid tribute to Blago and his signature haircut. People everywhere, however, were outraged when Blago was rumored to have received a big advance to write a book not titled Corruption for Dummies (apparently the deal isn't panning out so well). A Chicago Tribune columnist ran his own contest to name the book, and the winner was "Rod and the Giant Impeach." Nice work (but my favorite was "The Grapes of Graft"). The rest of the winners are here. But even if we begrudgingly accept that Illinois is more corrupt (and it's not like we are not accustomed to our state finishing at the bottom of a lot of categories), we Louisianans shouldn't cede the title of best satirists, especially not in the wake of Mardi Gras. So any nominations for the title of Gov. Bobby Jindal's personal/political autobiography? You can't run for president without one.